At this moment...
10.28.06:
Some songs for a late September…
- Sour Shores - Portastatic (Mac keeps writing better and better songs. Kind of reminds me of Matt Pond PA or like hearing the voice of a friend that you haven't spoken to in way too long.)
- From the Devil Himself - Viva Voce (Wins the 2006 Best Use of Handclaps in a Song Award.)
- Phantom Punch - Sondre Lerche (Just when I was starting to think Sondre was turning into Elvis Costello -- not necessarily a bad thing -- he drops this masterful single that if you try hard enough you could probably dance to. Plus, that guitar tone is amazing.)
- Yours to Keep (Featuring Neneh Cherry) - Teddybears (No, not The Teddybears who had a hit with To Know Him is To Love Him. I think some of these guys are in The Caesars, and this sounds like a Caesars track. Great little end of summer track. But I think summer is over.)
- Little Else - How To Cure Dyslexia (Just a little Brittish folk ditty.)
- Jenny Again (The Earlies Remix) - Tuunng (Such an old little murder ballad, especially since Tuunng sound like Simon and Garfunkle.)
- Braver Newer World - Jimmie Dale Gilmore (There's an alternate acoustic version of this used in the bar scene in Kicking & Screaming. There's an urgency to this song, a driving force that isn't usually found in country music. Once again, another track with a killer guitar tone.)
09.27.06:
09.24.06:
First, congratulations to my brother on completing his first half marathon. Hopefully he'll run the Chicago Marathon with me next year.
Second, after weeks of struggling to get in a 20 mile run, I finally completed 20 miles. I was up at 5 AM and out the door by 6 AM. As I was resetting my GPS watch some homeless person started to approach me. I walked to the other side of the street, and when he made an attempt to follow me I stated to jog, and he went the other way. The first 10 miles were flawless, and then it started to drizzle. For the last ten miles it drizzled on and off. I saw a lot of other runners out this morning. My guess is the majority are training for the marathon. At one point, around mile 11, some little dog darted out at me, and I heard some girl trying to call the dog back to her. I shouted, "That dog better not try and bite me. People who can't control there dogs shouldn't be allowed to have them. My time for the run was 03:34:24, about four minutes off pace.
It's now 10:30 AM. I'm trying to eat a bagel with peanut butter, but it's difficult. Food usually doesn't taste appealing after long runs, but I need to take in plenty of protein and carbs, hence the peanut butter (protein) and bagel (carbs).
09.23.06:
Yesterday Godard and Dylan, today Anderson and Echo & the Bunnymen. Actually, yesterday since I worked I only had time to watch Breathless, but I did listen to a bunch of Dylan. Today I've been watching Wes Anderson movies. I started at 2 PM with Bottle Rocket and am now up to The Life Aquatic. From a storytelling perspective Rushmore is probably my favorite out of the four, but The Royal Tenenbaums has some of the best dialogue and one-liners out of all the Anderson movies.
09.22.06:
At lunch there was some little kid who kept saying to me, "Chips are bad for you, you shouldn't eat them." I wanted to reply back, "Didn't your parents teach you any manners?" but I didn't. Instead, like a fool, I tried to tell him that I can eat whatever I want because I exercise and take care of myself. The kid was probably four, maybe five years old, so this kind of reasoning wasn't going to work. Still, what parent lets their child talk to strangers? More importantly, what kind of parent lets their child walk around unattended. Five minutes after the kid told me that chips were bad for me he started to crawl around on the dirty floor. The guy at the table next to me said to the little boy, "Crawling on the dirty floor is bad for you." Then, I spied the kid picking his nose so I said very quietly, "If you pick too far up you'll pick out your brain."
After work, as I was getting ready to go out for a quick three mile run, tornado sirens started to go off. The only time I ever hear the sirens is the first Tuesday of every month, and since it's not the first Tuesday of the month I figured that something must be going on with the weather. Eventually some pretty big storms pushed through, and when they ended I managed to take a photo of a rainbow over the city of AH
09.20.06:
After feasting on a homemade meal consisting of roasted chicken breast with rosemary and pesto mashed potatoes paired with a Sauvignon Blanc, I've decided to extend an open invite to my friends to join me for dinner every Wednesday for the remainder of 2006. I'm serious about this, all I ask is that you let me know that you're coming for dinner and I'll plan accordingly. If you'd like you can bring wine, or maybe cheese, or something to snack on as I cook. It's just that I love to cook, especially for family and friends, and with Fall fast approaching I can start to use my oven again.
Yesterday kk, Jason, and I went to hear djbv play some tunes at Pontiac. Good times. Before heading over there kk and I ate dinner at Bistro Campagne. They have the best frites in Chicago. Probably my favorite restaurant in Chicago as well.
About two weeks ago I ordered the Phil Spector box set from Amazon for the insanely low price of $14.99. Yesterday it finally arrived. It's a four CD set with well over 60 songs, and that includes the classic Phil Spector Rock & Roll Christmas album (that album goes for $11.99 on Amazon by itself). Talk about a steal. Great stuff, and highly recommended! I also ordered the latest Susanna and the Magical Orchestra album, Melody Mountain. Wow. The album opens with a hauntingly subtle take on Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. However, unlike the trend of the Nouvelle Vague series, the adaptations on Melody Mountain are completely devoid of irony or kitsch value. Covers include It's a Long Way to The Top by AC/DC, Condition of the Heart by Prince, Crazy, Crazy Nights by Kiss, Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division and Don't Think Twice by Bob Dylan. Highly recommended as well. Their version of Love Will Tear Us Apart is gorgeous.
09.19.06:
Happy 60th Birthday to my Dad!
09.17.06:
R.I.P blue mini iPod. At around mile 10 my iPod started to start and stop at random, and then it started making weird popping noises. Maybe it's time to give up running to music. We'll see how the grey mini iPod holds up. At some point I'll get a nano.
Wow, all of a sudden it turned black outside and started to storm. Talk about torrential downpour.
Yesterday kk was out in the burbs. We went to Ikea and then I cooked portobello (The portobello also called portabella is really simply a brown crimini mushroom in disguise. Evidently the usage of the two words "portobello vs. portabella" is simply an issue of a marketing brand.) and shitake risotto and an apple crumble for dessert. I've decided that I'm better with baking sweet things. Not that the risotto was bad. It almost needed a little something, but I can't figure out what. Maybe it was the mushrooms? The apple crumble was excellent.
Sleepy. I watched the Bears destroy the Lions. I'm liking this whole football thing. Still, Sundays don't seem the same anymore.
Listening to:
Offshore - Early Day Miners
09.14.06:
After a rather strange day at work filled with information that I wish I was never privy to, I threw on my Asics and went for an amazing seven mile run. I started with a 10 minute warm-up mile and then ran the next five miles at about a 7:45 minute pace and ended with another 10 minute mile (total run was 00:59:49). My tempo and speed work has been going well, but my distance runs have been crap. I need to get more committed to my long runs. Not that they've been bad, but they haven't been as consistent as I'd like them to be. Regardless, tonight's run kicked some serious ass.
As I was driving home, and passing through AH to get to my apartment, I spied another drunk stumbling through the streets. He could barely walk, and in his right hand he clutched a bottle of Lite. I watched him for about 30 seconds. He was hanging out in front of a beauty salon, and he'd take a swig from the bottle, stash the bottle under his tie-dyed shirt, scratch his crotch, and take a few zigzagging steps. This town is falling to pieces.
Listening to:
A Boot and a Shoe & Fan Dance - Sam Phillips (An amazing pair of albums, perfect in every imaginable way. The thing that sets Sam Phillips apart from so many songwriters is how she is capable of accomplishing so much in songs that are usually no more than three minutes. Her songs are succint capsules of emotions. A lot of singer/songwriter types could learn a thing or two from her. Plus, her voice is stunning.)
The Convincer - Nick Lowe (What can I say, I'm really liking this album a lot. Everytime I hear Homewrecker I just about crack up.)
Reality - David Bowie (Listened to this fine album during my run. A little Bowie always makes a run even better.)
09.13.06:
Today, instead of going in to work, I volunteered at a thrift/resale store. Between putting clothes on hangers and a bunch of other odd jobs, I checked out the vinyl section. Why is it that thrift stores are loaded with tons of albums by Lawrence Welk, Barbara Streisand, and Barry Manilow? More importantly, does anybody ever buy that crap? However, in the back of the thrift store I came across a box of records that looked pretty intriguing. I enquired if I could buy some of the records and was told, "That box is for eBay." I asked how much they'd be willing to charge me for a handful of records, and the woman said, "Well, usually we charge .25 cents, but I'll sell you these for a dollar." 
I ended up picking up some Simon & Garfunkel, Burt Bacharach (on the back there's an autograph from Burt that reads, "To Barb — Pleasure meeting you. Burt Bacharach." Don't know if it's authentic or not, but still kind of cool), and Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 (I was so tempted to buy the soundtrack to Mother, Jugs & Speed starring Bill Crosby, Harvey Keitel, and Raquel Welch, but I passed that one up even though it was marked .25 cents). However, the real score was a near mint condition copy of Dick Hyman's classic album, MOOG: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman. The cover art is stunning, and while the music is dated, it's still a fascinating listen and historical document, especially since at the time the Moog was the future of music.
Maybe I'm starting to get old, but the thought of buying a movie via iTunes (I know, they also unveiled some new piece of hardware called iTV that allows you to stream video to your TV) and watching it on my iPod doesn't excite me. The reason I own an iPod is because it's a convenient device that allows me to listen to music when I'm out running. Other than that, I really don't use my iPod. And even still, I've had a number of recent runs without music, and I have enjoyed listening to the world around me.
These grey days are starting to get to me. Hopefully the sun will make an appearance soon.
Listening to:
I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass - Yo La Tengo (I spent an hour driving around trying to find this album. Was it worth it? Yes. Much better than Summer Sun, but still not as amazing as Painful or I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One (my two favorite Yo La Tengo albums). The first single, Mr. Tough, might very well be the best single of the year. It's a cowbell filled soulful jazz shuffle rave up replete with falsetto singing and horn hits.)
Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio
Burt Bacharach's Greatest Hits - Burt Bacharach
Pieces of the People We Love - The Rapture (Remember when they were on Sub Pop and used less cowbell? Still, I dig them even though they catch a lot of crap.)
09.11.06:
A couple of days ago I noticed someone with a myspace account was hotlinking to an image on specbebop.com. Hotlinking eats up bandwidth. I could easily put some code on my site that blocks people who hotlink, but instead I switched out the photo they were hotlinking to with a photo of moped man. I just checked my web stats and noticed that I had a visitor from France wandering around the site. Thinking that it might be the hotlinker I visited their myspace page and saw that they removed the photo of moped man. At one point I thought of putting up some porn, but thought that would be too mean. Oh well, they're no longer hotlinking to specbebop.
For dinner I made bow tie pasta with Italian sausage. I wish I had someone to share it with because it was really delicious, and it smelled amazingly sweet. I was a bit hesitant to use regular pork Italian sausage (usually I buy chicken sausage), but I'm happy that I did since it went really well with the red wine, tomatoes and yellow onion sauce. I have leftovers, so anybody who wants a free meal tomorrow night is more than welcome to stop by (that is as long as I know you).
Listening to:
Power, Corruption, and Lies - New Order
Deep Cuts - The Knife
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust - David Bowie
(Have I ever mentioned that Bowie is a genius?)
09.10.06:
I wrote something, but then I deleted it. Had to do with a dog chasing after me and barking at me while I was out running. I love dogs, but not when they're raised to be mean, or when their owners are ignorant people. Ran 15 miles, 10 of those miles were in the rain. I wanted to do 20, but called it a day at 15. Now I'm watching the Bears vs. Packers. That's so unlike me, but I'm enjoying it. Maybe I'll watch football this season.
Lord, hear me now
Junk boats and English boys
Crashing out into the noise
Electric fences and guns
You swallow me
I'm a pill on your tongue
Here on the nineteenth floor
The neon lights make me numb
And late in a star's life
It begins to explode
And all the people in a dream
Wait for the machine
Pick the shit up leave it clean
Kid hang over here
What you learning in school?
Is the rise of an eastern sun
Gonna be good for everyone?
The radio station disappeared
Music turned into thin air
The DJ was the last to leave
She had well conditioned hair
Was beautiful but nothing really was there
— Hong Kong, Gorillaz
Listening to:
The Convincer - Nick Lowe (Up until today I'd heard a lot about Nick Lowe, he produced Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True, and a bunch of other classic bands like The Pretenders, and he is mentioned in a Robyn Hitchcock song, but I'd never heard any of his own recordings. Wow, I've missed quite a bit. Today I picked up The Convincer, which is a gigantic soulful album filled with a little bit of country. Damn amazing songwriter, and his voice is huge and tender. Highly recommended!)
09.08.06:
So only two responses to the below form, yet multiple visits by lots of different people over the past two days. Hmmmm... So that's how it's going to be? Well, if you change your mind the form will be here for you to fill out.
The hole in my ceiling is finally patched. Now it looks like a ceiling. Hopefully the roof is really fixed and I won't have any more drops of rain entering my apartment.
Last night I was telling kk about my paved Earth idea. I was driving down to Chicago for dinner with kk and I started to imagine the Earth encased in a layer of pavement. No people, just pavement over everything, even water. I guess I just thought that someday we'll pave over everything, and eventually pave ourselves to extinction.
It's a night of Norwegian singers...
Listening to:
Pixiedust - Solveig Slettahjell
Rykestrasse 68 - Hanne Hukkelberg
Will There Be Spring - Maria Solheim
09.06.06:
I'm always kind of curious as to who visits specbebop.com, especially when there are visitors from other countries or far away places. So, I built this little form to find out who you may be. Please take a minute to drop me a quick note, and if you do decide to send me a note through this form I'll make you a mix CD. I know that's asking a lot, especially when people want to have some anonymity, but I'm willing to give it a try.
According to the Guardian, "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's outspoken president, fired an ominous warning at the country's educated elites yesterday by calling for a purge of "liberal and secular" academics in the universities."
Before I forget, there are some great new songs on the Pernice Brothers web site.
Listening to:
Blue Album - Weezer
Marquee Moon - Television
Rain Dogs - Tom Waits
09.05.06:
I'm enjoying The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I pretty much spent all day yesterday reading, and only really came up for air when I heard the train station guitarist wailing away. I attempted to film him from my apartment, but you can't hear his amazing fretwork, and when I compress it down for the web it gets all blurry. One of these nights I'll have to wander over to the train station and film him up close.
Listening to:
Beautiful Maladies: The Island Years - Tom Waits
The Whole of the Moon: The Music of the Waterboys & Mike Scott - The Waterboys & Mike Scott
09.03.06:
I'm homesick.
Yesterday was a thrilling day that involved cleaning, reading Muakami and Shirer, and watching Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.
Today I'm beat, exhausted, both mentally and physically. I woke and ran 17 miles and it took a lot out of me. I can barely form complete thoughts.
I was napping earlier, trying to rid myself of this terrible headache, when I awoke to shouting across the street at the train station. Lately, all the town vagrants have been loitering there until around 10 PM or so. Feeling like I needed to document what was going on I grabbed my video camera, and started recording. Here's a little clip and here's another clip (Quicktime required).
09.02.06:
Listening to:
Their Satanic Majesties Request - The Rolling Stones (Some great stuff on this album, but some real clunkers as well. But, this album is light years ahead of the crap they've put out in the last 20, probably 30, years or so.)
Fineisterre - Saint Etinne
Amber - Clearlake
Periphery - Christopher Bissonette
Another Day on Earth - Brian Eno
Retrospective (Disc 1) - Red House Painters
Transformer - Lou Reed
At The "Golden Circle", Stockholm - Ornette Coleman
Trio